The Juno pattern from Mönsterfabriken is a diamond in the rough. At first glance it is a retro style casual sweater/hoodie/bomber with several options like cuffs, waistband, pocket and hood, but a few tweaks reveal a garment that can be both smart and modern depending on the choice of material and styling.

I’m a big fan of mixing smart and casual clothing into versatile outfits that feel very now. Layering a crisp white shirt under a casual sweater is a look that can take you anywhere, at least here in Scandinavia where dress codes usually are very relaxed. Add smart trousers or nice jeans, and sneakers or boots, grab your coat and you are good to go. No-one does this better than Susanna, Frk Wiberg AB. They say imitation is the ultimate flattery, so I hope she will appreciate my copy-cat version:

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The traditional sporty hoodie is usually made in a french terry or sweatshirt knit, but I decided to make mine in a medium weight merino jersey. Wool is superior to cotton in the cooler months, and as we are heading into autumn and winter light layers is the way to go. After seeing many versions of the #mfjuno there was no doubt, it had to be a sweater with hood, but no waistband or cuffs. I decided to omit the pocket, too, to achieve the simple look I had in mind. I’m wearing it with my Agnes shirt in linen.

Juno is a unisex pattern for teens and adults, and the sizing is based on body measurements. The finished garment measurements are included, too, and they are a great help. This time I wanted to be able to layer under it, so I choose the size closest to my bust measurement (91 cm), a 92 cm chest. I added 1 cm seam allowance as per the instructions. Because this is unisex I knew the sleeves would be way too long for me, but since I omitted the cuff I left them at their original length to be sure I had something to work with. The bodice were too long, too, but I wanted a deep cuff and hem, so the extra centimeters were just what I needed.

The actual sewing didn’t take long. To prevent the shoulders from stretching out I added a fusible bias tape there before I overlocked the whole thing together. I considered adding something to hide the seam at the neckline, but it doesn’t show, so I dropped it. The cuffs and hem are 5 cm deep, and I used a triple stitch cover seam to finish them. The finished sweater is quite boxy and a little oversized with a finished chest measurement of 110 cm.

I like the result very much. It has become a very wearable sweater, with or without a shirt under, and perfect for these strange times when we are home one day, at the office the next.

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Juno is great value and has so many variations and sizes that it’s hard to imagine to ever having to get another pattern for casual sweaters and jackets again. If you sew for others, too, it only gets better. The size range is from chest measurement 64 cm to 116. The line drawings indicates only a few of all the possibilities:

My next Juno is already in the making, a cream white cotton jersey t-shirt with long sleeeves, and I cut it out in size 88 without seam allowance for a slimmer fit. It might be that I need to go down yet another size to get this model fitted enough in the future, but we’ll see. I’m planning to wear the second one as a base layer more than on its own, under the merino hoodie and with anything else of course.

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I think there might be a Juno or two under the tree from me this year, but I’m not making any promises yet. I might want to keep them all to myself!

Pattern: Juno from Mönsterfabriken
Fabric: 1.5 m Premium merino jersey in military green (discontinued, similar here) from The Fabric Store
Half a day sewing time

Transparency: The pattern was kindly gifted to me by Mönsterfabriken as a thank you for testing another pattern. There are no affiliation links in this post.